The Entrapment
by Fer Lyre
Summary: Plotline of the Entrapment.......... but what happens when we put in the JQ characters?


The waves crashed hard on the rocks, making booming noises which added to the rolling thunder in the sky. The sky itself seemed to be swirling with all the different shades of of grey that the overhanging clouds produced. Flashes of lightning found their way through the clouds every now and then.  
  
Inside a cosy little cottage just west of the storm, a slender red-head was making coffee. She smiled over her mug and drew her blinds closed. She poured herself some coffee and sat down on a couch in front of her television set. She flipped throuh the channels and came across a local news report. A perky blonde was reporting from Wildchester, the town currently being savagely attacked by the storm. The red-head shook her head... how could some people be soaked steadily by the rain whilst standing in mud and still be cheerful? She flipped channels again, there was an Indiana Jones film, not her type. She skimmed through a few more channels and finally gave up.  
  
Setting her empty mug on the coffee table, she reached out for the newspaper. She swiftly found the United Kingdom column and scanned the page carefully. She tilted her head slightly and smirked. It was there alright. Every week without failure. Jonathan Quest : Master of Thefts? This time it was a pearl necklace. No ordinary necklace, though. Queen Victoria's priceless Indian-Pearl necklace. Stolen from the Queen Victoria's Royal Collection Museum. She ran one hand through her silky red hair. How did he do it? Let alone how he did it, WHY did he do it? The items stolen by him always reappeared in a week, no less, with a regular note attached, which usually just had his signature.  
  
The red-head closed her eyes slowly and leaned against the back of the couch. What wouldn't she do to work with him? She could just imagine it. A life filled with adrenaline-pumping adventures. Not that her life wasn't exciting enough already.Working for a secret service wasn't that bad. But it just wasn't as thrilling as defying them, playing your game, and taking risks so dangerous that you might die at ever corner that you turn. She slowly opened her eyes and rubbed her temples. She'd made up her mind, she'd be meeting Jonathan very soon indeed.  
  
She picked up the phone and dialed up her boss. It rang once before his secretary picked up. She connected her to Mr. Georges Duprés, her boss and husband.  
"Hey Georges....say, what would you do if I got the inside scoop on Jonathan Quest? Yeah.... and bring him in too obviously... yea? Couldja arrange a flight for me to England, fast? Thanks... Love ya too honey "  
**********  
  
Jonathan slammed the phone down into the receiver in frustration. He simply hated it when someone tried to get out of line. He ran a very orderly company and strongly disliked people who talked back. His company, Forchá, was one of the most well-known mass producing car companies in the United States of America. He was obviously filthy rich, but couldn't bring himself to wallow in his riches while people died in Africa. Most of his earnings went to several charities. He ran his company under his mother's maiden name, Wildley. No-one was ever smart enough to connect Jonathan Wildley with the infamous crook Jonathan Quest, so he remained safe.   
  
He stalked out of the office, grabbing his coat on the way out. He took the elevator on his way up to the roof. From there, he flew to his home in his private helicopter. Jonathan lived in a mansion, exclusively made for him by France's Royal Architects. The mansion was situated on a island nearly covered in lush greenery. As his pilot turned off the engine, Jonathan climbed out and made a beeline for the stairs. Jonathan was a man who believed in good health, and carried it out to the extremes.  
  
As he headed down, he noticed something odd. The passage that led to the lounge had faint footprints on it. Jonathan always insisted on a sparkling floors, so it definately wasn't made by him or his crew. He dropped his briefcase and pulled out his best-friend. His silver slugger pistol. He edged up the passage and tensed up as he approached the corner. He cocked his gun and in one deft move, leapt into the room with the gun pointing out straight in front of him.  
  
A woman sat on the great big armchair by the fireplace. She didn't seem the slightest bit surprised. Rather, she held a pistol of her own, but she held it in her lap. An amused smile played across her lips. Jonathan's muscles relaxed. He had nothing to worry about. He knew this woman.... infact, he knew her too well.   
  
He moved across the room in one swift motion and was soon positioned on the opposite armchair. They both sat in silence for a while, taking each other's expressions in. Then, Jonathan broke the silence.  
  
''Jessie'' he said simply.  
"Jonny" she replied.  
  
She smiled warmly and held her hand out. Jonathan refused to take it. Jessica wasn't bothered, she just drew her hand back.  
  
"So, I've been reading about you in the papers..." she purred in a silky tone.  
"So have lots of people" he retorted huskily.  
  
She wasn' t affected by all this, instead, she crossed her legs and leaned forward.  
"I admire your work"  
  
She paused, waiting for him to respond. He didn't, so she continued, unaffected.  
"I think you have great potential... I know we've been through some tough times, but i have a fresh new proposition for you"  
  
Jonathan seemed interested now.  
"What could you offer me?"  
  
Jessica threw her head back in laughter. In moments, she was back to her seductive self.  
"Besides myself, nothing."  
  
Jonathan traced the embroidery on the armchair. Jessica sure knew the right buttons to push. He, in his entire life, had never known another woman who turned him on quite so much. Perhaps he should play along with her game, just for fun.  
"Alright then, Jessica. What is this proposition?"  
  
She smiled her catlike smile... her sly face shimmering in the firelight.  
"You"  
She pointed a well-manicured finger at Jonathan.  
"Help me"  
She pointed at herself.  
"To steal a Van Gogh"  
  
Jonathan smiled.  
"And why would i do that?"  
  
Jessica put on a hurt expression and pouted.  
"Why, Jonathan Quest, wouldn't you do anything for me?"  
  
Jonathan tensed up again.  
"Jessica, that was years ago."  
  
Jessica flipped her hair and laughed.   
"Very well. Then do it for me. As a favour to a friend and nothing more"  
  
Jonathan rested his head on the back of the arm chair and thought for a moment before nodding.  
"That might be done"  
  
Jessica dropped her head down, saying prayers of thanks. She wasn't as interested in the Van Gogh as he thought she was. Jonathan rose up and waited for her to do the same.  
  
"We will talk about this tomorrow"  
  
Jessica nodded then suddenly realised he hadn't asked her how she'd found him or offered her a room.  
"Wait!"  
Her hand flew out to stop him from leaving. She was surprised, as was he. She hastily removed her hand from his chest.   
"You didn't ask me how I found you"  
Jonathan chuckled.  
"Jessica, I've known you to be a woman of many resources, so lets leave that alone, shall we?"  
"And where will I sleep tonight?" she asked him in an innocent voice.  
"Here" he replied nonchalantly.  
  
She pouted again and didn't pursue the matter.  
  
**********  
  
Jonathan headed straight down to the cellar, where he stored his personal bar. His personal bar tender gave him a broad smile.  
"That's some lady you got up there, chief!" the bloke remarked.  
Jonathan nodded.  
"I know"  
  
After four beers, he dazily made his way upstairs. When he entered his room, he saw that there was someone already in it. Someone with red hair. He groaned aloud and slapped his forehead. He had never been able to resist her in the past, and found it hard to resist her now. Nevertheless, he poked her in the side. She stirred a bit but remained fast asleep. He sighed. Why bother? He grasped onto a pillow and a sheet and made his way to the guest room.  
  
*********  
  
Morning came, and along with it, the usual morning-grogginess. Jessica, however, seemed even more perkier than usual. By the time Jonathan had actually gotten up to go to the loo, she was sitting in the gazebo, sipping her coffee and reading the newspaper. He hurriedly brushed his hair and pulled on decent clothes. Not bothering to do his usual morning rituals, he trotted down to the gazebo. She had already dressed up and looked as if she had been up for ages (which was probably true).  
  
Jonathan crossed his arms and stood in front of her.  
"And what do you have planned for today?"  
  
Jessica smiled and gestured for him to have a seat, without looking away from the paper.  
"Nothing much... steal a few jewels... get my name in the paper... get you to like me again..."  
  
Jonthan threw his hands up in frustration.  
"Jess, face it, I'm never gonna forgive you for what you did! "  
  
Jessica took her eyes off the paper and looked at him intently.  
"I didn't mean that kind of like... Jonny... I'm sorry, ok? All I'm asking is to be a part of your life again... Please?"  
  
Jonathan looked at her disgustedly. Her eyes were brimmed with tears, but he knew better than to fall for that. The vixen.  
"Jess, give it up, wontcha? I will never forgive you unless I do something equally as bad"   
  
Jessica's face was red now. Perhaps from her sadness, but to Jonathan, from anger.  
"What did I ever do to you anyway?" she asked quietly.  
  
Jonathan pursed his lips and crossed his arms tighter.  
"Oh... I dunno... went and slept with a bunch of other guys... WHILE you were going out with ME!!"  
"Jonathan, a lot of people make mistakes!"  
"Yes Jessica, and you made a big one. You told me you LOVED me, I believed you, I trusted you."  
  
Jonathan noticed that she had wrung her tissue to bits and that she was sobbing. Something inside of him reminded him of how much he really loved her, but he instantly shut those emotions out. He was head over heels for her, but someone else told him that he shouldn't let her get away with this. Hadji to be precise. Jonathan had been shocked, he had always thought of Hadji as the peaceful type who never thought of pursuing arguments. But he supposed Hadji had his own reasons. After all, Jessica had once broken his heart as well.  
  
Jonathan bowed his head.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't want you to cry....here...take this" He handed her a hankerchief.  
  
He gave her a couple of minutes to compose herself and then allowed her to continue.  
"I wanted you to help me steal a Van Gogh... Irises..."  
  
Jonathan smiled... as children, when he and Jessica went to art galleries, they would always marvel at a particular painting, Irises. He had soon grown out of it and learned to appreciate the other types of art. Jessica had still stuck onto Irises.  
  
"Do you know where it is being exhibited?"  
Jessica nodded and handed Jonathan the paper. Under United Kingdom, there was a tiny section in the corner about an art exhibition in Canterbury. In some old castle nearby. Jonathan was familiar with the place, exhibitions visited the castle quite frequently. Ofcourse,these were always private exhibitions, set by the landlord of the castle area, Norman Haggiddis. You required an invitation to be allowed in. Jonathan pointed this out. Jessica looked shocked.  
  
"You weren't thinking of going in broad daylight were you? "  
"Well, the thought HAD crossed my mind. And what do you propose?"  
"Night-time, the traditional way.... dodge the guards, grab the painting and we're outta there"  
  
Jonathan scratched his newly acquired goatee and laughed brusquely.   
"Do you know how heavily guarded the painting'll be in the evening? Especially Irises?"  
"Yes, very... BUT... the paintings aren't guarded at a particular period of time. Every night, at quarter past ten, the guards patrol the sculpture gardens. One big flaw is that no-one guards the painting at that time. Ofcourse, the head of security comes by at twenty past ten to check up on the paintings. And when I say head of security, I mean ten really intelligent cops"  
  
Jonathan rolled his eyes.  
"So.... your point is...."  
  
"We steal the painting then" Jessica said shortly.  
  
Jonathan slammed his head down on the table.  
"I don't know you call yourself even an AMETEUR thief"  
  
Jessica bristled up at the comment.  
"How did you know that I'm an amateur? No-one knows what I do"  
She leaned closer to Jonathan and clutched his hand.  
"You've been checking up on me, haven't you?"  
Jonathan shrugged.   
"I also happen to know that you work for the secret service"  
"Jonny, I swear I'm not turning you in"  
He hastily changed the subject.  
"You do realize that you're in England now, don't you? And you do remember that it's summer. It doesn't get dark till ten-ten thirty... it's as bad as being in broad daylight"  
  
Jessica shrugged.  
"So... anyway..." she continued. "The rest is up to you. About how we steal it".  
  
Jonathan yawned. This was going to be one heck of a long day.  
********  
Jessica stood in the bathroom talking into her cell phone quietly, but rapidly.  
"Yes.. Yes I got in fine. No, I didn't sleep with him Georges! Honestly! Well, I gotta go, I'll keep checking in. No, I won't tell you where he lives. Yes, I'll take care, BYE" she disconnected the phone.  
********  
  
Jonathan gently pushed his reading-glasses up his nose as he squinted at the blueprints of the castle. Though he knew the castle quite well, he hadn't memorized the dungeons completely yet. He pulled out a thick black marker and crossed out four of the entrances. Trying to get past those would be too risky. There would usually be lazers everywhere, but since it was a castle of considerable old age, there were none. Instead, there were supersensory "listening devices". Anything above a ruffle of cloth set off an alarm, all throughout the castle. This was a very impractical idea, because the castle was deep in the country-side, where sounds were hard to avoid, what with birds outside and so on.  
  
Jessica appeared in the doorway and peered in.   
"Was on my way outside, was going to take a jog. Care to come along? "  
  
Jonathan dismissed her with a wave of his hand.   
"Not today, thank you"  
  
Jessica grinned and came inside.   
"I may as well forget about the jog then"  
  
She slowly walked through the gigantic study. It was the size of a ball room, or even more. Vast curtains fluttered in the wind as a cool breeze entered through the open french-windows. At the back were chairs, all gathered around a projecter-screen for screening slides. Rows of bookshelves lined the left side of the study, all packed with books. Jessica looked through some of them, mildly interested. Jonathan looked up.  
  
"If you like books, there's plenty more where those came from. Take out the second book from the third row up from where you're standing."  
  
Jessica did as she was told and discovered a red button. She looked at Jonathan and he nodded. She hesitantly pushed it.  
  
All of a sudden, the front wall swung sideways. Beyond the wall, you could now see rows upon rows of books. Jonathan quietly mumbled, turning back to his work, "Some books I collected over the years"  
Jessica laughed. "SOME?"  
  
She ran her fingers softly along the shelves.  
"Jonny?"  
"Yes?" he said looking up.  
"I have to tell you something that's been nagging away at my mind since I got here"  
He relaxed himself and pulled out a seat for her.  
She sat down and began.  
"Well, the first thing is that I'm married"  
Jonathan raised an eyebrow.  
"Why am I not surprised?"  
"Because you know everything about me...." Jessica said slowly, remembering that he had checked up on her before.  
Jonathan didn't comment and continued with his work.  
"But what you don't know is that I can't stand my husband"  
Jonathan gave up on his work. He rolled up the blueprints and moved everything else to the side.  
He took Jessica's hands in his.  
  
"Jess..." He began. "When will you ever learn? And I don't see why you confronted me with this. You love your husband, good, I'm happy for you. You don't love your husband, fine, not my problem. You aren't a happy couple then go get a divorce. Please don't ask me to solve this for you... please... I don't think ....mfphmm " . His last few words were muffled since Jessica had pulled him into a kiss. He tried to push her away gently but she didn't let him.  
Finally, she drew back.  
"Tell me you didn't enjoy that, Quest" she said softly.  
Jonathan rested his head on his hands.  
"Honestly Jess, I can't say I didn't. But I do know that you shouldn't be doing this. Jessica, you have a husband who you don't love"  
"I know"   
"Now, Jess, it's MY turn to tell YOU something. As much as I like kissing you, you shouldn't be doing all this. I'm afraid that if I start liking you again, you'll turn your back on me again. I can't help feeling uneasy about this"  
  
Jessica's eyes were bigger and greener than ever.  
"Can't you trust me Jonny?"  
Jonathan shook his head sadly.  
"I wish I could. But I can't till you actually show me your divorce papers and admit to have no other boyfriends and such"  
Jessica drew in a deep breath.  
"And till then?"  
Jonathan smiled.  
"And till then, we're good friends, and partners in crime"  
  
***********  
  
Jonathan was now fully done with the plans. They were to enter the castle at nine thirty sharp, which was no problem since they were going to manufacture fake invites. Then they would enter the castle's west wing which would take some time to get to for the castle was considerably big. There, they would wait in the west tower entrance, where there was a small storage room under the stairs. This was usually locked, but it was the only area not patrolled by the guards. The guards always passed the room, on their way up to the west wing. Then, they had to wait there till ten o' clock, when the exhibition closed. Some people usually lingered around so the guards didn't bother doing their patrols immediately. At this time, Jonathan and Jessica would make their way up to the west tower, where there would currently be no guards for they would all be at the starting point for their patrols, the entrance. At ten fifteen, they would start patrolling the sculpture gardens, which was when Jonathan and Jessica would enter the Irises chamber. It wouldn't have been fully secured yet, for the head of security was going to do that. They would have to make their way across the room extremely quietly. Then they would secure a hook with nearly invisible string to Irises which led up to the roof. Then Jonathan and Jessica would have to quickly go out the window, as quiet as ever, and climb up the castle to the roof, hoping that they won't be seen. And then straight to the army helicopter at the top which was kept for emergencies. And then they'd pull Irises up, through a hole they had created in the ceiling. And then, away they would fly.  
Jessica liked the plan.  
  
********  
  
Georges was getting worried. Letting his wife wander off to get info on Mr. Quest was NOT a good idea. Ofcourse, his worries were never of safety, for he knew that Mr. Quest would never mistreat his wife, but he worried about them getting too close.  
  
*******  
  
It was a Monday night, cold and clear. It was slowly beginning to get darker and darker. Jessica placed both feet outside the limosine gracefully and drew herself up Jonathan soon followed, and the couple made their way inside like celebrities, with people glancing appreciatively at how nice the two looked together. Jessica smiled at no-one at particular the entire time. It was then that Jonathan noticed that she had a major smiling problem. She always either seemed to be smiling, laughing or something of the sort. Maybe it was a childhood problem or something. Not that there was anything WRONG with smiling, it just seemed wierd that someone should smile all the time.  
  
Anyway, she looked stunning, and Jonathan felt no need to memorize how lovely she looked that evening, because she looked better every evening that came. Most people were ordinary city-folk, who had come down to the country-side to enjoy some good old nature. Occasionally they'd pass gorgeous-looking people like themselves, in tuxedos and gowns. Jonathan and Jessica, however had opted for the more casual side. Jonathan still wore a coat, but a dark blue one, on top of a turtle-neck white shirt, with casual gray pants to go with it. Jessica felt no need to dress up at all, so she wore a low-neck top with a long, silky skirt that hugged her hips and flowed down around her below the knee.   
  
They made their way gracefully in and out of the throngs of visitors. They even had unexpected company.  
  
"Why, Norman!"  
Jonathan put on his most surprised expression. The landlord was NOT a factor they had thought of. He would most probably tail them around everywhere. Norman Haggidis gave a broad grin, baring his neat rows of pearly teeth. His hair had been slicked back with enormous amounts of gel and he reeked of expensive cologne. He put a friendly arm around Jessica as if she was an old friend of his and slapped Jonathan on the back with his other hand.  
  
"So, Jonny-boy, what brings you to these parts? Tired of business?"  
Jonathan rolled his eyes. One thing about Norman was that he was one persistant fellow. He had been persuading Jonathan to sell his company over to him for years. He caught Jessica's eye, who happened to be slightly revolted at the slime-ball of a land-lord. While Jonathan cut a most dashing figure, he appeared quite the opposite. He appeared about ten tons over-weight, looking like a pudgy little troll. Not forgetting his face either, which was the ugliest thing you could have ever imagined.  
  
"No, Norman. We, my lovely escort and I, were just admiring these lovely bits of art you have around here"  
  
Norman turned his neckless head around to lazily regard Jessica. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. He brought his porky arm up and stroked her hair as if she was a little china doll.  
  
"Cute", was all he had to say.  
  
Jonathan hastily bid him a curt goodbye and swept away with Jessica at his arm.  
  
"WHAT was that?"   
"The landlord"  
"And you know him.....how?"  
Jonathan sighed.  
"Went to college together"  
"Won't say any more, swear"  
"..." 


End file.
